Few details on new funding formula

Gov. Jerry Brown’s new funding allocation method for the state’s schools is aimed at leveling the playing field for poorer schools.

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By Mike BodineSTAFF WRITERmbodine@ridgecrestca.com

Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

By Mike BodineSTAFF WRITERmbodine@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 8:27 AM

By Mike BodineSTAFF WRITERmbodine@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 8:27 AM

Gov. Jerry Brown’s new funding allocation method for the state’s schools is aimed at leveling the playing field for poorer schools. It is also purported to allow for more control over how individual schools and districts can spend funds, a radical change from the years of earmarked funds.

However, there are few details about how exactly the new Local Control Funding Formula is going to work or how its implementation is going to be paid for. This has led to some confusion about how the new funding formula will work and its effects on schools and students. What is known about the new formula if that it is now, and will continue to be, complicated.

Christina Giraldo, assistant superintendent of business services for the Sierra Sands Unified School District, said there are occasional bits of information received from Sacramento about the LCFF, but there has been no comprehensive directive presented about how the plan will be put into place. More information is expected to come out of the Governor's 2014-15 budget proposal set for release on Friday, Jan. 10.

Giraldo said the school is moving forward with community outreach and information should be available to the public in the near future.

The new formula is just that — a new formula — for how funds get to schools and, to a lesser extent, how they will be spent. It is simply a “new distribution method for education funding, not to be confused with the LCFF being an improvement in the level of funding for all students” Giraldo said.

“The LCFF is intended to correct historical inequities and increase flexibility, by strategically directing projected growth in education funds to students with the greatest need to close the achievement gap,” Giraldo said.

This includes socioeconomically disadvantaged, the new term to indicate “low-income,” English language learners and foster children, specifically.

There are concentration grants and other incentives to help schools whose enrollment of students in the low-income group is more than 55 percent.

Giraldo said Sierra Sands does not meet that criteria and does not plan on reaching that benchmark percentage in the near future. The district will not receive additional grant money from the Governor's plan, but this is a Catch-22 situation.

The district does not have an above-average percentage of disadvantaged students, but it also means it will not be eligible for those concentration grants.

The school might be eligible for money to help implement the LCFF, but currently there has been no money available for that purpose.

“The formula also brings new challenges, as the district had to quickly adapt to a new funding model with very little guidance as to implementation,” Giraldo said.

What is known is that while the formula is intended to give more control for the districts on how money is spent, the LCFF mandates accountability of where the money is spent. Districts will have to adopt a local control accountability plan by July 1.

Page 2 of 2 - Much of the money that was once categorically divided for specific programs will now come to schools in a lump sum, but those specific programs will still need to be funded.

According to Giraldo, the LCAP must include “annual goals and specific actions based on state priority areas for the district and each school in the district, description of expenditures implementing specific actions and adopted every three years and updated annually.”

The LCFF also plans on closing the achievement gap by reducing class size. It mandates class size for K-3 classes to a ratio of 24 students to one teacher.

“This goal must be reached at LCFF’s full implementation planned for 2020-21,” Giraldo said.” The district must meet intermediate targets during the eight-year time span to show progress has been made toward that goal. Failure to meet the target at even one school site can result in the loss of Class-Size Reduction funding district-wide.”

Giraldo explained by phone Wednesday that the district will have to work on the class size reduction based on projections of future enrollment numbers. She said there is no contingency if a district has a sudden population growth or loss.

How much money a school will receive through the LCFF is a complicated issue as well. Giraldo said there are so many complex pieces to LCFF that state legislators considered holding off on implementing the program for a year until more details could be ironed out, but the Governor has been adamant about putting LCFF to work.

The Daily Independent will have further details about the LCFF when they become available.